The concept is unique and widely believed among Japanese
Right after the New Year Bells’ tolling, Japanese rush to Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines to pray for their happiness in the year, which is called “HATSU-MOUDE”, and on that occasion some men and women at the age of specific period, so-called ”YAKU-DOSHI厄年, pray for “YAKU-YOKE厄除”avoiding unluckiness and troubles. This scene continues to be seen until the end of January or in February in general. This praying for YAKU-YOKE厄除 is a custom of many Japanese cling to.
This Japanese word “厄除” consists of two characters, “厄” and “除“. The former pronounces “ya-ku” and means unluckiness including “accident, disasters, misfortune, problem, unhappiness, suffering and such bad issues”. The latter pronounces “yo-ke” with meaning “ward, avoid, defend, guard”. Therefore meaning of “厄除yaku-yoke” is to ward off bad luck, avoid problems, defend from disasters and so on. YAKU-DOSHI厄年 denote the year in which he or she at particular age segment faces bad luck.
Derivation
The oldest description of YAKU-DOSHI厄年” can be found in the Buddhist scripture named “仏説灌頂菩薩経” which came from China in NARA era (8th century) and it mentioned the ages of 7, 13, 33, 37,43, 49,52,61,73,85,97,105 are unlucky years. (https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000039-I7947294 (特集読物 古今東西、数字のジンクス)綿谷雪p158～163). Also the famous novel, GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 published in early 11th century, also portray the story of YAKU-DOSHI厄年, so it is sure that concept of “YAKU-DOSHI厄年” existed about 1000 years ago. At the time gone down to the EDO era(17th to 19th century), it became widely known by ordinary people as the concept of calendar was prevailed to them, then people went to Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines to pray for not to face unluckiness “ya-ku厄”. From then, the concept of “YAKU-DOSHI厄年 and YAKU-YOKE厄除” had been strongly rooted among people in Japan.
Modern Japanese assume, as I explained in “MIKUJI, that they themselves do not have any religion, but they actually go to Buddhist temples or shrines at many occasions to pray to Buddha or God for realization of their dreams, happy future, or not to be in trouble. So when people find that they are in YAKU-DOSHI厄年” period, they go there to pray for YAKU-YOKE厄除, not to be face in any troubles.
Particular age segment to be considered as unlucky
In order to find the “YAKU-DOSHI厄年 you need to know first the age counting method of KAZOE-DOSHI which was widely used in East Asia including Japan that newborn baby is already one-year-old , then become two when next New Year’s day come. By this method baby born on 31st of December become two on next day of New Year’s Day. Taking this KAZOE-DOHI into account, you can find when you are in ”YAKU-DOSHI厄年”.
Following chart shows general YAKU-DOSHI age of man and woman;
| Man | Woman | ||||
| Mae-yaku | Hon-yaku | Ato-yaku | Mae-yaku | Hon-yaku | Ato-yaku |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | |||
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| 41 | 42 | 43 | |||
| 60 | 61 | 62 | 60 | 61 | 62 |
Especially 33 year-old of woman and 42 year-old of man are called Tai-yaku(Big Yaku) when they face high possibility to be unlucky and need to be very careful.
What do you need to do then?
During these years many of men and women go to Buddhist temple or Shinto in order to have Prayer service or to get charm for “YAKU-YOKE厄除”.
Prayer service
In order to ward off ”yaku厄” , you can go to Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine to have KITO祈祷 prayer service. You can receive the talisman, and put it at your home, then it is believed that the Buddha embedded in help you escape from “厄yaku.” Usually it cost at least 5000 Japanese yen. Its details can be find in “KITO祈祷- Prayer Service by Buddhist temple in Japan”
Charm for YAKU-YOKE厄除
You can find many kind of charms including for “YAKU-YOKE厄除” in Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines. These are as portable that you can always bring with you and also less expensive.
Summary
We Japanese have a custom named “YAKKU-YOKE厄除” that people who are within the certain age segment face unluckiness in that year. In order to ward off that, they go to Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines receive prayer service or have charms.
If you are within the age of YAKU-DOSHI厄年, you can experience the ritual of YAKUYOKE.
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I may overlook some ordinary action which impress you or let you feel different, so if you want to know about any Japanese behavior or actions which make you interesting, please let me know. I try to analize and post the story in this site.
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